Former Suriname president Chandrikapersad Santokhi, who investigated the 1982 political assassinations, dies at 67 & more related news here

The former president of Suriname, Chandrikapersad Santokhi, a former police commissioner who investigated the murders of more than a dozen political opponents in 1982 and which deeply marked the South American country, has died. He was 67 years old.

Santokhi, also known as “Chan”, led the troubled country as president from 2020 to 2025, and previously served as Minister of Justice and Police from 2005 to 2010.

Suriname’s President Jennifer Geerlings-Simons confirmed Santokhi’s death in a statement on social media, writing that “his years of service in various public roles will be remembered.” The cause of death was not immediately known.

Rob Jetten, the Prime Minister of the Netherlands, wrote in Suriname is a former Dutch colony.

Santokhi took control of bankrupt Suriname from his predecessor, former dictator Desi Bouterse, and led the country to economic stability, backed in part by an International Monetary Fund program.

However, the austere measures implemented to meet the program resulted in great sacrifices for the people of Suriname, including the phasing out of fuel, water and electricity subsidies.

In February 2023, hundreds of protesters broke into Suriname’s Parliament to protest high fuel and electricity prices and demanded Santokhi’s resignation.

Voters denied Santokhi a second term following the May 2025 general election.

Previously, as Minister of Justice and Police, Santokhi cracked down on drug trafficking and other crimes, earning him the nickname “The Sheriff.” Before entering politics, Santokhi was a police commissioner and led the investigation into the so-called “December murders,” in which 15 political opponents of the military regime led by Bouterse were shot dead in December 1982.

Bouterse faced a criminal trial that began in 2007, a quarter-century after the murders occurred. He was eventually sentenced to 20 years in prison after being convicted twice for the murders, but remained a fugitive until his death in late 2024.

Bouterse had accepted “political responsibility” for the murders, but always denied having been present in them.

Even before the trial began, Bouterse accused Santokhi of wanting to imprison and kill him. The two were fierce political opponents.

Santokhi’s success as a police officer and later as a minister paved the way for him to claim the presidency of the Progressive Reform Party in 2011, following the resignation of then-president Ramdien Sardjoe.